Child Predator Sentenced

Child abuse ‘predator’ gets 14 years in jail

A BANGOR man has been jailed for sexually abusing six children over a 17-year period.

Last Friday (28th) Alastair Carswell was sentenced to 14 years for what was described as ‘predator activity’ involving victims aged between seven and 16.

Carswell (48) is originally from Bangor, though court records currently give his address as HMP Maghaberry, and all of his victims were from the North Down area. He was sentenced to seven years in prison followed by seven years on licence for a total of 25 charges, including multiple indecent assaults, that took place between 1995 and 2012.

Friday’s Crown Court sitting in Belfast heard that three of the 48-year-old’s victims had endured long-term effects from ‘sustained periods of abuse’ suffered at Carswell’s hands. Three of the victims were targeted on a single occasion but the others, two boys and a girl, were abused over a prolonged period.

When Carswell was arrested and questioned about the abuse last year he denied his victims’ claims, branding them malicious. But during last week’s court sitting the judge described Carswell as ‘controlling and willing to exercise control over others’ and stated some of the offending had a ‘pre-meditated nature’.

A defense lawyer told the court that Carswell intends to comply with probation after his release from prison, and that the 48 year old wants to try to get back some semblance of his life.